Thread: How to build a trigger

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I have this prop Rising From The Grave by Totally Ghoul and it's currently set to be triggered via sound.


you can buy the footpad for it from Spirit, but I would like to trigger it by some kind of remote instead using the footpad pins. If you have any ideas on how to create a trigger, that would be awesome. thanks!

People have asked this before but I'm not sure if anyone actually hacked these or not. Some of these come with demo switches and I always keep mine in hopes of someday using the demo switch and splicing it to another trigger source like a motion sensor. Try searching the forum for store bought prop hack, or store bought prop controller, something like that.

just did a search and you shouldn't have a hard time finding what you want. You really should be able to just splice the demo trigger to another trigger source and should be good to go, after all, it is just closing a contact.

What kind of remote do you want to use? PIR, manual switch (button) etc? The "Try Me" jack can be used with a lot of different types of triggers.

Buy a 4.5v power adpater, cut the molex off, split into 2 wires, wire strip the ends, solder one wire to one footpad pin, wire the other to the other footpad pin.

Find a pushbutton, solder it with low voltage wire (22 gauge)

Cut one of the wires going into the footpad pins, wire strip both ends, wire your pushbutton wire to each side of these 2 wires

Plug in the 4.5V adapter

You now have a pushbutton trigger

Industen, are you sure that the prop is supposed to have voltage on the footpad trigger input? The Try Me button pins may have voltage on them, but only need a dry contact to fire the prop. Is the Spirit footpad trigger a powered device? If not, then sending voltage into the footpad input may fry the board. I looked at the pic of the footpad, and I see just one cord - the one that plugs into the prop. There's no indication that the pad is powered.

I am not sure about the footpad having power or not. If it does then the above post will work. If it is a dry contact then it is even easier.

To be 100% sure, turn the prop on and test those footpad pins with a multimeter. Set it to DC and see if power comes off of them.

wow. thanks for the response guys! So this didn't come with a try me button. It came like this with nothing connected to any pins.

It shouldn't need a power source to trigger it (i think). I have a multimeter in the basement. I'll give that a try. If the multimeter sets it off, then will some kind of push button trigger from radio shack do the trick? I was also thinking of making it trigger from a wireless remote control. price depending...

The reason I'm doing this is because I don't want the prop going off every 10 seconds because someone found out sound triggers motion.

thanks again for the help. I'll report back on the multimeter

its a dry contact because the multimeter was able to set off the footpad setting.

Do i just get some sort of trigger from radio shack? is that where you can get triggers? i've never done this before so sorry for the n00bie questions.